I had a romantic weekend. And when I'm done with all the unromantic stuff (like sorting the house out) I'll post some stories. That's the fun stuff of life: other people's stories.
See this cute man driving this cart? This is Manuel. He's my landlord. He only speaks Italian in the Veneto dialect and so I generally can't understand a word he is saying. But he's super nice and kinda reminds me of my dad.
There's a long parade/processional before the cows that I'll show you more of tomorrow. But this truck is announcing the good stuff.
Yesterday Inter played Barcelona in a Chapions League match. The crowd made a super cool Italian flag. See that white part in the middle? It's the press stands. The press doesn't have seperate boxes, they are a part of the crowd just like everyone else. I love that they used the press section in part of the flag.
It's been raining here in northern Italy from Sunday to Thursday morning. It's beautiful right now though. I was so excited to break out the fall boots and my new coat.
Yesterday I got to go on the field trip with the kids to the zoo. Apparently this zoo is 2 towns over from my house and I had no idea. It was super cute.
All of our kids are supposed to wear the bright yellow shirts we provide (as do the adults) so we can easily spot our kids out of the crowds.
This llama either just had a baby girl or just fathered a baby girl. See that pink bow? Italian decorate their houses and cars with these at times of celebrations. Pink for girls, blue for boys and white for weddings.
There she is in there. 
This little pony was definitely a boy and definitely sweet.
See this kid? We had this conversation when we first got off the bus:
You should check out her flickr .elsie*cake. I have a girl crush for good reason, my friends. Check out some of these pictures:
Thank you kind over matter. :)
This was the view from my corner this morning at 8 am. It was cool, overcast. Perfect for walking.
As I was following my usual path it started to clear up. One of the neat things about a good hard rain is the view of the hills the next day. Usually the humid weather surrounds my lowland town in a constant haze. But the morning after a lovely rain, clears things right up.
Munich was my second German city. It was Germany, so it was nice of course, but it wasn't Dusseldorf. (You all know how I feel about Dusseldorf.)
On the first night we were there we went to the Hofbrauhaus. It's probably the most famous beer haus in Germany. Hitler met there pre-war with some of his compatriots to plan. It's also freakin' huge and had an umpah band playing. I got the schnitzel. I do not regret it.
Munich held the Olympics in 1972. From the Olympic park you can see the BMW museum, pictured here. It was probably the coolest thing about the Olympic park.
Dusseldorf is the first European city that I've been to thus far where I would love to live without military support. I know that sounds weird, but with Hubs being in the Army I have a safety net. Other Americans, translators if I need them, the commissary where I can buy peanut butter and other American things. I'd live here without any of that. But hopefully with a few years of German under my belt. 
There's a street in Dusseldorf known as "The World's Longest Bar." Yes, I'm serious. Yes, it's a fantastical place. All of the next to each other bars on this street have outdoor drinking areas. So when you stand at one end of the street and look down it, it looks like heaven. I mean, it looks like it's all one bar. Oh by the way, the beer in Germany is about half the price of the water. My liver hurts and I like it.
These houses probably cost 2 million euros easy. They are right on the river and I want one.
If you go up the stairs in the picture before this one then you'll be at this market. There were sausages and crepes and honey and jewelry all for sale on one side and the Rhine on the other.
The rivers are like your crazy rich aunt that put you through college. Even though you paid her back 5 years ago you just can't shake her. She keeps calling. Keeps showing up. And deep down, you hope she never stops. 
But you'd never tell her that.
I have pictures again! It's going to take me a bit to sort through them all, but I'll update as I do. Here's Hubs and baby brother-in-law Chris from Munich this weekend. We were in the Hofbrauhaus (sp?). It's fuzzy but I love it. Just like I love pictures.
I went for a short hike this weekend with some friends of mine. We hiked from JoAnne's house (JoAnne is the blonde in the picture) to Lumignano where there was a pea festival going on. The hike was through cherry orchards and vineyards. I know, I know. The hard life I live.
While we were picking cherries, Mario came by on his tractor to give us a hard time. I forgot to take a picture of Mario. Picture an old man with white hair wearing a blue jumpsuit on an old tractor. You can picture it? Good. 
He rides his tractor up and down this path a lot.
Only a few of the cherries were ripe. In two weeks when they are at their peak, I'm going to Castegnaro for their sagra of the cherries.
